Peru deems Americas Summit a success despite absence of Trump, Maduro

General view during plenary session at the VIII Summit of the Americas, in Lima, Peru, 14 April 2018. EFE

Lima, Apr 14 (EFE).- The president of Peru said that the 8th Summit of the Americas in Lima, which ended on Saturday, was a success despite the absence of the presidents of the United States and Venezuela.

Donald Trump canceled his visit in order to deal with the Syrian crisis, sending his vice president Mike Pence, and his daughter and White House advisor Ivanka Trump in his place, while Peru withdrew Nicolas Maduro’s invitation to protest the humanitarian and political crisis unfolding in his country.

“As a country we are extremely satisfied. In America there are 35 countries, 34 were invited and 33 have attended. I do not think that there can be greater success than that. More than half of them were represented by their head of state or by their prime minister”, Martin Vizcarra said.

The Peruvian president said the attendance was an endorsement of the transition that Peru underwent three weeks ago after the resignation of his predecessor, Pedro Pablo Kuczynski, over corruption and vote-buying charges.

Vizcarra said that the US was well represented by Mike Pence and Ivanka Trump.

Prime Minister of Canada Justin Trudeau (R) and US vice president Mike Pence (L) talk during the family photo at the VIII Summit of the Americas, in Lima, Peru, 14 April 2018. EFE

Peru’s leader also expressed his satisfaction at the adoption of the Lima Commitment, a declaration in which all the participants pledged to take concrete action against corruption, one of the central themes of the summit.

Vizcarra pointed out that the two previous summits, held in Colombia in 2012 and in Panama in 2015, had concluded without a declaration.

“For Peru’s part, we are going to take this document as a reference to translate it into concrete measures, The fight against corruption requires concrete measures, which we will certainly take in Peru as part of this continental agreement,” he said.

The 8th Summit of the Americas was held in the Peruvian capital under the theme “Democratic Governance against Corruption”, in light of the many scandals involving politicians and companies across the continent over the past year, including the so-called “Lava jato” case in Brazil, which led to the impeachment of former president Rousseff.